KOOBKROW Write Now //

Essential Writing
Workbook for
Visual Artists

Artwork Archive
artists/ collectors/ organizations
 03
Lesson 3
WHO ARE YOU?
GENERATING YOUR ARTIST BIO

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03
Writing Your Artist Bio
The Artist Bio is a chance to celebrate WHO you are as an artist.

In your Artist Bio, you want to tell your life story as succinctly as possible, highlighting
how you came to be the artist you are today. You want to narrow your Artist Bio down
to the key points, essentially showing how your life events led you to make what you're
making today.

This is a place to talk about your top achievements, about your education or influences,
teachers you studied with, how you got started—anything else you feel is necessary to
give people a good look into who you are as an artist.

Looking ahead
In the next section, you will find a bunch of prompts to spark ideas and give you a
starting point so that you can come up with some of the most interesting facts of your
life (your personal history and your professional history) that inform the art that you
make as an artist. Write your bio in such a way that people will want to see your art!

Artist Bio Prompts

Don’t feel that you have to answer every single question. These are just here to give
you options. I want you to respond to the prompts briefly and trust that whatever
comes up is rich raw material for your Artist Bio.

Another fun thing you can do is go back to your Artist Statement and pull out the most
resonant phrases or concepts from your Artist Statement and weave them into your Bio
to create congruence. You can take the most impactful part of your Artist Statement
and then shape your Bio to support it.

Writing an Artist Bio can be a really fun process, and I can't wait to see what comes up
for you.

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PROMPTS FOR YOUR
ARTIST BIO

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03
Here are the prompts for writing your Artist’s Bio.
Lesson 3
PROMPTS FOR YOUR
ARTIST BIO

Look over the list and select the questions that pique your interest.

Skip questions that make you draw a blank or that you simply don’t warm up
to—you’re looking for a variety of questions that get you talking about your
work and telling an interesting story.

Again, we suggest that you record yourself with your smartphone as you speak your
responses so you can listen to yourself later and observe what really stands out.

What year were you born?

What city, state, and country were you born in?

What was going on in world history, or local history, or within your family at the
time that you were born?

Where were you raised?

Were you raised in one place or in multiple places?

Who raised you?

What are some of your earliest memories of being an artist?

Who helped encourage you?

Who or what experiences discouraged you?

What was your favorite medium as a child?

Are there any other memories from childhood that are particularly impactful to
the type of art that you're making today?
Did you study art in school or with particular teachers, or do you consider
yourself self-taught?

Where did you go to school and what did you study? Did you study one subject
primarily? Did you specialize, or did you study multiple subjects?

Are any of these related to art? Note: It’s fine if none of it is related to art.
There's no judgement here; this is all part of your story. We're owning the parts
that inform who you are today.

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03 Lesson 3
PROMPTS FOR YOUR
ARTIST BIO

How about your career? What careers have you chosen to work in? Making art
and making a living are not always one in the same.

Perhaps you came to art later in life. Talk about it.

How did you discover that you were an artist?

Were you an artist but didn’t make work for a while? Describe the process of
reclaiming yourself as an artist or reclaiming your creative practice.

Who have been some of your favorite teachers that helped unlock things for
you?

Have you had opportunities to make or share or exhibit your work? Talk about
those experiences.

What art exhibitions have you been a part of, if any?

Is your work in any collections?

Are there any art organizations to which you belong? Note: Don't worry over
any prompts that don’t relate to you. They are not all necessary; we are
prompting you in order to capture all sorts of experiences.

Talk about any major exhibitions, sales, partnerships, grants, or awards, but
don't mention more than a few achievements. Listing a few achievements is
awesome, but your CV is the place to put all of them.

What else about your life story is focused on your art or interesting to someone
who's just meeting you?

What else does your life story or who you are tell us about your art? Remember
that we want your bio to make us want to see your art.

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03 Lesson 3
WRITING YOUR BIO

Respond to these prompts in the same way you did for

the artist statement prompts:

Record yourself talking or writing, and then organize them by theme. Then write
and summarize the best ideas in each theme, print it out, read it aloud and check
for resonance, clarity, and truth.

Then, whittle it down with edits again, keeping in mind that your Artist Bio covers who
you are and how your life history informs the art that you make.

Write your bio in the third person (he, she, they—not I). You really want to narrow it
down to the key points in your life story that show where you’ve been, what you’ve
experienced, and how you became the artist you are today—how your life informs your
art.

Include your influences: teachers or educational experiences, travel experiences, art by

other artists, or anything that has really been a large influence on you. You could share
the art movement you feel your work is a part of, areas of self-study, or pivotal
experiences which led you to become the artist you are today. This is a chance to name
your influences or pivotal moments in your development as an artist.

Your bio should make people want to see your art. Keep in mind that people may
encounter your bio before going into your show or seeing your work online. Make sure
it’s juicy and teases your art. You don’t want it to be too dry or self-aggrandizing. Give
people a good look into who you are and leave them wanting to see what you make.

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03 Lesson 3
WRITING THE ARTIST BIO

Here's a nice simple structure for crafting an artist bio:

In the first paragraph, begin with the gutsiest thing from your artist statement—whatever
jumped out at you and felt like your message, your truth.

Next, go on to talk about some of your accomplishments or your personal history—an

informal, shortened snapshot of your CV. You could say where you were born and then
mention 3-4 artistic experiences or accomplishments that you've had (anything from a public
art installation to your impact on your neighbors when you painted their beloved cat—
whatever you're proud to share).

Finally, talk about yourself in terms of your geographical, personal, and educational history.
This is the place to mention influences, if you choose. You may want to add hints of your
future ambitions or your upcoming new direction, if you feel moved to do that.

Enjoy mining the raw material for your artist bio.

Artist Bio Flow

BIG ARTIST 3-4 ARTISTIC INFLUENCES OR

STATEMENT LINE ACCOMPLISHMENTS UPCOMING PLANS

GEOGRAPHICAL,
SNAPSHOT OF CV
PERSONAL,
(LOCATION,
EDUCATIONAL
EDUCATION, ETC)
HISOTRY

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Artist Bio Draft

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 ARTWORK ARCHIVE IN ACTION

SKILL BUILDING
Your Artist Bio helps people understand not just what you
make—but who you are.

Store it where it can support your applications, your

relationships, and your visibility as an artist.

WHERE TO STORE AND APPLY WHY THIS MATTERS

YOUR ARTIST BIO Your Artist Bio is more than
background—it’s relationship-
Keep your bio ready to share—professionally and building
personally. .
Use it to:
Upload your finalized bio, use it on your Public Profile, and Share your story on your Public
Profile
keep it connected to your network with the CRM tools built Help curators and collectors
for artists. understand your path
Strengthen relationships
Connect your past experiences
TODAY’S ACTIONS to your future opportunities

Upload your Artist Bio to the My Docs →

Add your Artist Bio to your Public Profile → BONUS VIDEO

Go to “Public Profile” and select “About”.
Scroll to the “Artist Biography” and add a version
your artist bio
Add a version of your Artist Statement to the Public
Profile “About” section as well..

This short video introduces the

Public Profile on Artwork Archive:

Learn what the Public Profile is on

Artwork Archive & how it benefits
artists, collectors and art
organizations around the world.

Watch here →

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